By Makiko Yamazaki and Tetsushi Kajimoto
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese exports rose in June for a seventh straight month, however the tempo of development slowed to its lowest since late final yr, information confirmed on Thursday, underscoring issues {that a} slowdown in China could hamper Japan’s trade-reliant financial system.
Slowing exports may sprint policymakers’ hopes that stable exterior demand could greater than offset weak home consumption. Japan’s financial system has been anticipated to emerge from a sharper-than anticipated contraction within the first quarter.
Knowledge from the Ministry of Finance (MOF) confirmed Japanese exports rose 5.4% year-on-year in June, smaller than a 6.4% enhance anticipated by economists in a Reuters ballot and cooling from 13.5% development in Might.
Japan’s weak yen, which has languished at 38-year lows, boosted the worth of exports, however volumes fell 6.2% in June.
“Aside from a weak yen increase, you can not anticipate the US, Europe or China to develop sturdy sufficient to again Japan’s exports,” stated Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Analysis Institute. “There isn’t any export development engine around the globe.”
By vacation spot, exports to China by worth rose 7.2% year-on-year in June, led by demand for chip-making tools, the commerce information confirmed, however development slowed from the 17.8% enhance in Might.
Shipments to the US, Japan’s ally and a key market, grew 11% year-on-year in June, whereas these to the European Union fell 13.4%.
Imports by worth grew 3.2% in June from a yr earlier, versus a 9.3% enhance anticipated by economists, swinging the commerce steadiness right into a surplus of 224 billion yen ($1.44 billion).
It was the primary commerce surplus in three months. Estimates have been for a deficit of 240 billion yen.
Imports had risen 9.5% in Might.
($1 = 155.5700 yen)
